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Traditionalist Catholicism

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Traditionalist Catholic is the term generally used to refer to those Catholics who want the worship and practices of the Roman Catholic Church to be as before the Second Vatican Council. Many of them claim that the Second Vatican Council brought changes also in doctrine.

Terminology

"Traditionalist Catholic" is the term generally used, for example by the media. Some traditionalist Catholics, such as the Catholic Traditionalist Movement, have willingly adopted it, but most of them strongly prefer the description "traditional Catholic". Mainstream Catholics have, however, been known to object to the exclusive appropriation of this expression by traditionalist Catholics, saying that it belongs to Catholics in general, who claim no whit less than traditionalist Catholics that their faith is based entirely on Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

Though traditionalist Catholics dislike the generally used term, they have been known to apply it gladly to themselves when quoting, from Pope Pius X's letter Notre charge apostolique of 25 August 1910, the phrase "indeed, the true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries, nor innovators: they are traditionalists". In the judgement of others, the term "traditionalists" has, in the context of that letter, a social and political, rather than directly religious sense. In other contexts, "traditionalist" has yet other meanings, for instance: "a philosophical system holding that all knowledge is derived from original divine revelation and is transmitted by tradition".

Without making any judgement on the correctness of the term "traditional Catholic" as a description of the object of the present article, but merely for the sake of clarity, it seems best to use here the unambiguous term "traditionalist Catholic", and if the word "traditionalist" appears without the word "Catholic", to give it an upper-case initial ("Traditionalist"), indicating that the word is not meant in any of the several senses it has in contexts other than that of modern Catholicism.

Categories of traditionalist Catholics

1. Traditionalist Catholics in full accord with the Holy See

Some traditionalist Catholics, in the sense defined above, accept in full, whether willingly or only reluctantly, the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the decrees of Pope John XXIII and his successors in Rome, including the revision of the liturgy, and do not claim that the Council and the Popes have altered Catholic doctrine. The Holy See recognizes as legitimate their preference for and attachment to the older forms of the liturgy and discipline, whether for spiritual or merely aesthetic reasons, and has made arrangements for them to continue to use these older forms.

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) is an example of such traditionalist Catholics. It was established with the blessing of Pope John Paul II on 18 October 1988 by priests who disagreed with the action (which they and the Holy See considered schismatic) by which Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated, in spite of the express prohibition of Pope John Paul II, four bishops for his Traditionalist Society of St. Pius X on 30 June of that year. FSSP celebrates the Tridentine Mass and, since it has never been associated with dissent from the teaching and decrees of the Second Vatican Council and the Popes, naturally enjoys a cordial relationship with the Holy See and operates within the ordinary structures of the Catholic Church as a papally approved Society of Apostolic Life, like the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians, also called Lazarists) or the Missionary Society of Saint Columban (the Columban Fathers).

There are some twenty other such groups of priests and religious operating with full papal approval, most notably the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

Some reserve the term "traditionalist" to Catholics who reject the revised liturgy of the Mass as at least Protestantized and dangerous to the faith of Catholics. They therefore refuse the description "traditionalist" to these Catholics, calling them merely "conservative" Catholics.

2. Traditionalist Catholics dissenting from but claiming to be in full communion with the Holy See

Some traditionalist Catholics declare they recognize the authority of the Pope, but refuse to accept those teachings and decision of his and of other bishops that they perceive as contradictory to the Catholic faith. They claim that the changes brought about by or following the Second Vatican Council conflict with or distort historic Catholicism and amount at best to a "watering down" of Catholic teaching and practice. They describe the revised Roman-rite liturgy as Protestantized, weak in doctrine, and dangerous to the faith of Catholics who attend it. Some deny entirely its sacramental validity.

The principal group of traditionalist Catholics of this category is the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. While the Holy See does not view this Society as schismatic, it has officially declared that, when in contravention of an express papal prohibition Archbishop Lefebvre and his fellow Traditionalist Bishop António de Castro Mayer consecrated four priests to the episcopate on 30 June 1988, the six clerics concerned committed a schismatic act and incurred excommunication. It has also stated that some members of the SSPX are, in actual fact, schismatic as individuals, even if the organization is not classified as schismatic, and that it is morally illicit for Catholics, unless they are physically or morally impeded from participating in a Mass celebrated by a Catholic priest in good standing, to attend Masses offered by SSPX members.

Some priests, who have broken away from the diocese or institute of consecrated life or society of apostolic life in which they by canon law they remain incardinated, have established their own groups of followers, for whom they celebrate the "Tridentine Mass". They are known as "independent" priests.

3. Sedevacantist traditionalist Catholics

A few traditionalist Catholics, called sedevacantists, accept the concept of the papacy, but reject some or all of those they call "Vatican II popes" (Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI), on the grounds that, having embraced heresy, they lost their authority. Some of these groups, often called "conclavist", have elected their leaders as popes.

Traditionalist Catholic views

Traditionalist Catholics see the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ, united by the same faith, the same sacraments and the same discipline that they see as having united Catholics from the time of the Church's origins. Many take as their motto:

We are what you once were.
We believe what you once believed.
We worship as you once worshipped.
If you were right then, we are right now.
If we are wrong now, you were wrong then.

They attend Mass by preference or exclusively in the Tridentine form. Those who accept the decrees of the Holy See do so in churches or chapels where, with the permission of the local bishop, diocesan priests or members of societies such as the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, celebrate Mass in Latin using the 1962 Roman Missal. Others attend Mass celebrated by members of the Society of St Pius X, and others still Mass celebrated by sedevacantist or "independent" priests, some of whom reject even the 1962 revision of the Roman Missal.

Traditionalist Catholics also tend to stress the importance of popular devotions and practices that mainstream Catholics too value, including:

  • Making sacrifices on Fridays (in particular, abstaining from meat)
  • Going to Confession frequently
  • Praying the Rosary
  • Praying novenas
  • Wearing scapulars (especially the Brown Scapular) and using other sacramentals
  • Wearing modest clothing, especially in church (which for Traditionalists often includes veiling of women in church

Attitude towards the Second Vatican Council of traditionalist Catholics not in full accord with the Holy See

These see the Second Vatican Council as a pastoral Council, which taught nothing that must be accepted as an article of the Catholic religion, leaving them free to reject any of its teachings that in their judgement contradict former infallible teaching or contain ambiguities that can be used in support of erroneous opinions. They insist that the Council's documents must be interpreted in the light of Tradition. Some of the more extreme deny entirely, on grounds of heresy, the validity of the Council and the authority of the Popes who convoked and continued it.

They all claim to find in the Council's documents or in interpretations of them that have been officially countenanced the following general errors (a counter-comment of those who disagree with them is given below):

  • a new collegiality that has weakened the papacy and made bishops' conferences a veritable "second Vicar of Christ" in the Church. This, they say, contradicts Pope Leo XIII's Satis Cognitum, the teaching of the First Vatican Council, etc. They say they firmly support the papacy, but accuse mainstream Catholics of an attitude bordering on papolatry (pope worship) arising from a limited understanding of papal infallibility, as taught by the First Vatican Council, and of the nature of Christian obedience, as characterized by Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologica, II-II-104.
  • a new ecclesiology according to which the Catholic Church established by Jesus Christ is not the concretely existing Catholic Church, but only "subsists in" it. This, they say, contradicts Pope Pius XII's Mystici Corporis Christi and leads to a false "ecumenism".
  • a new focus on "the dignity of man" that ignores original sin and the need for supernatural grace, leading to a utopianism that sees peace as possible without recognizing the Kingship of Christ. This, they say, contradicts Pope Pius XI's Quas Primas, Pope Leo XIII's Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, Pope Pius X's Notre charge apostolique, etc.
  • a new "ecumenism" that has as its goal a "unity" without conversion to the Catholic faith. This, they say, contradicts Sacred Scripture, Pope Pius XI's Mortalium Animos, Pope Pius XII's Humani Generis, etc..
  • a new attitude towards ecclesiastical tradition that sees it as changeable and leads to dangerous modifications in Catholic practices, the liturgy, and pastoral orientation. This, they say, contradicts the Fourth Anathema of the Second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, the First Vatican Council (especially the document "Pastor Aeternus"), etc.
  • a new, previously unheard of, attitude toward novelty. This, they say, contradicts the Saints, Doctors and Popes of the Church prior to Pope John XXIII, the Papal Oath that they attribute to Pope Agatho (died 681) and say was taken by all Popes from Pope St. Agatho himself to Pope Paul VI inclusive, Pope Pius X's Motu Proprio Sacrorum antistitum, Pope Gregory XVI's Mirari Vos, the Fourth Anathema of the Second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, etc.
  • a new Paschal theology that de-emphasizes the sacrificial aspect of the Mass, leading the faithful to believe Christ's Resurrection, not the Blood shed in His Sacrifice on the Cross, saves, and giving rise to the 1970 revision of the Roman Missal. This, they say, contradicts Scripture, and Encyclicals such as Pope Pius XII's Mediator Dei.
  • a new relativistic philosophy that focuses on the natural and de-emphasizes the supernatural, leading to Deism, Pragmatism, and moral relativism.

Counter-comment on these accusations

In the eyes of non-Traditionalists, these accusations are based on highly questionable interpretations of Sacred Scripture and of phrases in documents of the Church's magisterium, indeed, in one case, on a clearly inauthentic document. The novel ideas for which certain theologians in the 1960s and 1970s used to seek support, if not in the text of the Council's documents, at least in what they called "the spirit of the Second Vatican Council", were not part of the Council's teaching and, far from being adopted by the Holy See, were combatted in papal documents such as Pope Paul VI's Credo of the People of God and his Humanae Vitae encyclical.

Criticisms of the position of traditionalist Catholics who dissent from Rome

Among the errors into which critics claim these traditionalist Catholics have fallen are the following (their counter-comments are given below):

  • An attitude of systematic opposition to the actually existing See of Rome and to the Roman Catholic Church as a whole, even to the point of breaking communion. This is likened to the attitude of those who refused to accept the decisions of the First Council of Nicea (the Arians), the Council of Ephesus (the Nestorians), the Council of Chalcedon (the forerunners of the present-day Oriental Orthodox Churches), the Council of Trent (the Protestant Reformers), the First Vatican Council (the Old Catholics), and so on. These other groups, too, claimed that they were simply holding fast to what they had always been taught, and that, since obedience not ordered to the Good is not perfect obedience, they were in conscience bound to reject the Council in question.
  • Referring to official decisions of the Church as actions of, for instance, "the Vatican", and treating the decisions practically as just views of one group among many in the Church.
  • Failure to distinguish between what is integral to the Catholic faith and what can change over time - in response, for example, to developments in theology and in human society and culture.
  • Exaggerating the extent to which the Second Vatican Council altered not only Church discipline and practice, but even, they claim, Church teaching.
  • Acting as if they were part of a different Church, with their priests not being subject to any of the bishops whom the Pope recognizes as being in full communion with him, yet administering the sacrament of Penance, assisting at marriages, and even declaring marriages null, functions that are normally invalid without a link with those bishops.

Responses of these Traditionalists to the criticisms

  • They claim a resemblance to Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, who was excommunicated and condemned by two Councils (not Ecumenical Councils), but is honoured as a Saint and Doctor of the Church.
  • They claim that some official directives go against infallible teachings or are harmful to souls and not only may but must be ignored.
  • They insist that the changes since the Vatican Council are in fact inconsistent and inorganic with what went before
  • They maintain that they do not in fact exaggerate when speaking about alterations, at least in terms of ambiguity, brought about by the Council.
  • They claim that canon 144 §1 of the Code of Canon Law ("In common error, whether of fact or of law, and in positive and probable doubt, whether of law or of fact, the Church supplies executive power of governance for both the external and the internal forum") applies to their situation.

Attitude of the authorities of the Catholic Church towards traditionalist Catholics

As is obvious, there is no conflict between the Holy See and the category of traditionalist Catholics described above as being in full accord with Rome. In his letter Ecclesia Dei of 2 July 1988, Pope John Paul II stated that "respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition." Such approval is, however, not extended to those who dismiss the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the decrees of the recent Popes.

At a lower level of authority, there are sometimes complaints that certain bishops and priests actively oppose any public celebration of the "Tridentine Mass", even if offered by members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and similar groups that enjoy the approval of the Holy See. On occasion the reason for a refusal of permission is that the request is made by traditionalist Catholics openly dissenting from Rome. Other refusals are more difficult to explain or justify.

Demographics

The number of traditionalist Catholics of all categories is very difficult to pin down, but they make up a small minority of the worldwide Catholic population: for example, according to an unconfirmed report by a Society of St. Pius X member, the Vatican authorities estimate that the relatively small number of 1.2 million Catholics support his Society. The demographics of traditionalist Catholics who worship at Masses offered by members of other priestly societies and "independent" priests is unknown. Traditionalists affirm that their numbers are growing, that their seminaries, though small, are full, and that demand for traditionalist Catholicism among the general Catholic population is high, with many families having difficulty in finding a "Vatican-approved" "Tridentine Mass" to attend. Like other strongly religious groups such as Muslims, Mormons, and Orthodox Jews, traditionalist Catholics tend to have large families. Conversions from other religions (mainly Protestantism) are "not uncommon", but the reverse seems to be quite rare. The largest numbers of traditionalist Catholics are in the United States and western Europe (especially France and England); there are also significant numbers in Canada, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.

Appendix on Traditionalist-like groups

Father Leonard Feeney

In 1953, an American Jesuit priest, Father Leonard Feeney, was excommunicated for calling his bishop a heretic and refusing to appear in Rome to explain his assertion that only those who have been baptized with water and are professed members of the Catholic Church can go to heaven. Like the later Traditionalists, Father Feeney felt that Catholics were losing the dream of converting the United States of America to Catholicism and were accepting non-Catholic ways too easily. His narrow views on Baptism and Justification distinguish him from the general body of Traditionalists. Nevertheless, there are many close similarities. For instance, as the members of the Society of St Pius X claim to be in full communion with Rome and, in spite of disagreeing with some teachings of the Second Vatican Council, accept it as an Ecumenical Council, so the current members of Father Feeney's "Slaves of the Immaculate Heart" movement insist that they themselves have never been out of communion with Rome, and they consider the Second Vatican Council to be a valid Council, though of course they do not accept the teachings in the Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium and its Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis redintegratio that run counter to their one-time leader's ideas.

The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association

Sometimes the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) in the People's Republic of China is linked with traditionalist Catholicism, merely because, having rejected the authority of Rome, it did not recognize the Second Vatican Council or the subsequent revision of the Roman Missal.

This rejection, however, had nothing to do with Traditionalist leanings and was imposed merely for political, not theological reasons, since the CCPA had been created as a means of placing Catholics in China under the total control of the Communist Government, even in spiritual matters.

Traditionalist organisations

See also

External links

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